Long‐Term Maintenance of Arytenoid Cartilage Abduction and Stability During Exercise After Laryngoplasty in 33 Horses

Objectives To (1) assess long‐term maintenance of arytenoid cartilage abduction (ACA) after laryngoplasty (LP); and (2) correlate the residual grade of ACA and postoperative abductory loss with arytenoid cartilage stability (ACS) during exercise. Study Design Case series. Animals Horses re‐examined after laryngoplasty (n = 33). Methods Of 89 LP horses (2005–2010), 33 had historic ACA data available and upper airway endoscopy at rest and during over‐ground exercise (mean, 33 months; range, 4–71 months) after surgery. ACA grade at 1 and 6 weeks postoperatively were correlated to long‐term ACA grade. Effects of long‐term ACA grade and magnitude of postoperative abductory loss on ACS during exercise were investigated. Results Median ACA grade at 1 week (n = 33) was 2, reducing to grade 3 by week 6 (n = 16). Grade 3 abduction was maintained in the long‐term. Correlation between ACA at 1 week and the long‐term was poor (ρ = .43, P  = .1), but there was good correlation between week 6 and long‐term (ρ = .89, P  < .001). Arytenoid cartilage instability was observed during exercise in 7/33 of horses, and not significantly associated with the ACA grade ( P  = .50), or the number of grades of ACA lost ( P  = .64). Conclusions Limited abductory loss occurs after 6 weeks postoperatively. Resting ACA grade was not a useful predictor of ACS during exercise.